It was pretty toasty again, but not as bad as last time. I have to say that the never ending pigeon poses bore me. I've started adding in bikram's wind removing pose and fixed firm pose while doing this. Haven't been yelled at so far ...

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I'm almost all packed! And the weather forecast is looking a little better, though it's still almost 20 degrees cooler than the last time I landed in Copenhagen this same time a few years ago. Our flight leaves tomorrow at 3:30 pm, so I have time to get to adult swim at Lebo for an hour. IF it's not pouring. The last two weeks have been very wet.

9-16 free, best average, 85-90%; held 1:17 but went 1:15 on #16. HR was 144.

17-24 kick, best average; I used short Keifer fins and held 1:35

25-32 stroke of choice, best average, 85-90%; swam five of these before I had to leave for work and went 1:15, 1:13, 1:13, 1:13, 1:12 (all free) and felt strong. I just need to put four of these together for my 400 free in San Jose and I can bust 5:00

32-40 swim or pull, best average; missed these because of an early case

As promised, I was able to make it down to the Berkshires to join the Simon's Rock group for their Wednesday night swim. Tonight we splashed at Laurel Lake, which is about 75 minutes from home and one that I have not yet visited. Lena and Preston came along, dropping me off at the beach and heading out to explore while we swam.

There were ten of us in total, including some new faces and a first time OW swimmer. I managed to attach the GoPro camera to my safe swimmer buoy but as I suspected there was little balance so it is a wild ride to watch!
I did manage to get some decent shots when I was not swimming, although I discovered that water on the housing can distort the picture ...

We headed southwest from the Lenox Town Beach with our buoys on and John's wife yaking, towards a beach rought 1/3 of a mile away. After a quick break, we made our way towards the large green field on the far end of the lake, following the southerly edge until we hit the shore. After another short break we aimed back to the start along the northerly edge, completing a total of 1.37 miles in just over 58 minutes.

As you can see from the pics, the water was not too choppy (especially on the way back) and the sky was so blue. The moon was hanging out among the vast blue canopy, and just some soft fair weather clouds drifted by the horizon. Air temp was about 75 with the water at 69...simply refreshing!

We did not join the group for a potluck afterwards, instead starting the trip back home. It was weird not having Brent join us as he is off in Germany, but I love the camaraderie that this team exudes and the fact that they let me tag along! Here's to more adventures in the Berkshires this summer!

Today's workout was the best I'd had in a while. Felt very sluggish yesterday, even after a rest day, so it felt good when I looked at the clock and saw my 100s coming in right on my goal pace for 1650 during most of the set. Here's what I did, all freestyle (except where noted):

My endurance is still wanting, but I just have to think of this as my base-building phase still, as much as I want to be in mid-season form... not after the inconsistent spring I had. I had my vitamin D tested and it came back really low; I think having no outdoor swimming venues here in Waco is taking its toll there... vitamin D was never an issue before. I think also that my schedule being very different this year is making a difference. I used to work/teach afternoons and nights in Wisconsin, so I would often be able to workout or be outside between 7 and 11 AM. Now I'm sort of trapped in the office or working inside at home from 8 to 6, so I only get outside early in the morning or late in the evening. I seem to be fatiguing a lot more quickly and it certainly could be a result of the low D. I think I also have to up my calorie intake. Since I'm eating mostly raw now I feel full a lot, but am obviously not getting enough calories from the fruits and veggies. Raw whole oats and Ezequial whole grain cereal, lots of nuts and seeds--these are helping me boost my calorie count without having to resort to processed foods, added sugars or oils. Started taking the B12 supplement again a few weeks back just to make sure that wasn't an issue.

Tomorrow, I think, is going to be my back stroke focus day. I had a good back day last week with interval 50s (4 x on 1:00), 100s (2 x on 2:00) and a 200 on 4:00--cycling through that a few times made for a really tiring set. We'll see what I do tomorrow; I want to focus on the 200, but I like the 200 goal-pace intervals with shorter distances.

I missed practice yesterday morning due to a mandatory 7 am meeting. And I have another one on Friday. No one ever looks back on their life and regrets that they did not attend more meetings. I will regret missed practices.

I had a great night of sleep and woke ahead of my alarm. I once again arrived early at the pool. There must have been a power cut during the night because the pool pump was off and the water level was down 6 inches. Tom soon fixed the issues and the pool quickly filled back up as we did the warmup and kick sets.

Warm up
400 free with snorkel
8x50 catchup on 1min

Main sets
6x100 kick on 2mins done as 2x100 streamline free kick with snorkel,2x100 back kick, 2x100 streamline free kick with snorkel
16x50 on 1min at 200 race pace(target 30/31)
200 easy
12x50 free on 1:10 working on distance per stroke. Take best 4 and add up to see who does the least(golf style scoring).

Warm down
200 perfect back
100 free easy

I did the kick without a board. I find it much harder to hold a good kick time so there must be something about my body position when I use a board. I held 1:45-1:47s in the kick. On the 16x50s I once again struggled to hit a groove on the first few going :31 and the. :32 but finally got on pace on #3 and then held :30 highs on the rest of the set and went a :29 on the last 50. From #2-10 I felt great but had to really work the last 6 to stay on pace and was very pleased with the set. The distance per stroke was done as a group with lots of cheating by some of my teammates. I realized a little gullibly that I was asked my stroked count first and the. Everyone else would say 1 or 2 less strokes per length than me. The give away was one of our older ladies a few lanes over who is at least a foot shorter than me saying she did 22 strokes to my 23. I ended up working my underwaters and on the last 6 held 21/22 strokes per 50 which was pretty good. I started out at my normal 30 strokes. This was fun! A good workout and I am pleased with where I am right now.

I ended up going to the 5:45 pm class because I couldn't get to an earlier one. I knew it was going to be a hot one because of the instructor. I really roasted; it felt bikram hot. Too hot = counterproductive for me. I felt pretty wasted the rest of the evening.

I need to start packing! Unfortunately, the weather for our trip does not look great at the moment. It could be fairly cold in places. Even in Copenhagen, it's only 63 degrees ...

Sometimes I think it would be easier just to get an easy job and lower my lifestyle. I might actually be happier. When you think about it you spend most of your life at work. Thankfully I have swimming to keep my mind off the stress for a little while.

Won't be going to any LCM meet this year due to priorities. Unfortunately, I currently feel better than ever for a LC 50fr. I did however purchace a GoPro and plan to be on Vacation in Aruba next month, maybe I can get an unofficial time at a LCM pool there

I hurt on the last two rounds of the abs. Despite this I am thinking about adding another twist to the abs set to interrupt the pattern since I have read that the body gets used to doing sets and adapts. The set takes 36 minutes so I don't have much more time I can add, so I am thinking of mixing up the abs but following the same pattern.

I swam great today. I was holding 1:30 on the kick/swim which was tougher than I thought it would be. Perhaps the streamline kick was not as easy as kick with a board. On the 200s I held 2:25s on the build and 2:20, 2:17, 2:15 on the fast 200s. I felt good on the last one in particular. On the 50s with fins I made 25m underwater on all of them and on a couple even went more like 30m underwater.

I rested yesterday as I usually do on Sundays. Shared a lane at the Texas Swim Center this morning with Larry, Kristy, and several others. I led our lane for the entire main set. After practice Whitney commented that leading is "20% harder" than drafting, which I believe.

, June 22nd, 2015 at 01:57 PM (Trying to Train Smarter, Not Just Harder)

This week I am the Cat!
So happy to see that I am finally on target as far as my FLOG goes. Took me long enough to catch up. Happily, I have a new fellow aficionado of distance who is willing to do that last little bit of workout with me, that I have traditionally been doing on my own. She is goofy - training for the Ultraman! And needs to pick up her distance in the pool - she has been going only about 2500 per workout, but now is intent on getting her distance up to 4000 per workout.
I've been feeling a lot stronger lately - it might be the weights, not sure, but I am not only the oldest, but the fastest lately. I'm sure Marci is tired, and maybe Grady too, but I am a LOT faster lately - and the longer we go, the farther ahead I am. It is different, that's for sure. I will ride this train and enjoy it for as long as I can.

Today:
I was super lucky & must have been looking extremely sexy, as I got blessed with lots of men in my lane of varying abilities. Two of them did try to hang in there with me on the 12 x 50's, but with the rest I felt like I was swimming an obstacle course. Wonder why they can't get in the next lane over with someone who is just leisurely going back & forth?ANYway:
600 back/free
300 kick
2 x 300 pull, steady state
12 x 50; 2 @ :45, 1 @ 1:00
(number 11 was a killer)
4 x 150 free/stroke/free @ 2:45 (easy/recovery)
6 x 200 alt pull w/out paddles & back/breast
Total: 4000 LCM

NEXT week, we are going to pick it up to 4500/workout - maybe even tomorrow, with a little bit less chatting between sets. THIS week, I am going to Girls Camp - I leave right after swimming tomorrow morning, and won't be back until Friday. I get to be the lifeguard & "assistant" nurse, lol. Plus I'm teaching a couple of classes. I'm excited to go, all my best friends from Church are counselors too.

I was pretty happy with today's swim. My 100 pace 50s were all very solid, and 12 of them is a bunch for me. I went to adult swim from 11-12. I was a little bummed that we didn't get in until 11:10 bc of kiddie lessons. I hope that doesn't happen every day. I am planning on going to Lebo a fair amount this summer to take a break from all the driving.

I had continued to swim pretty regularly (3-4 times a week) until two weeks ago. I went on vacation to the big island in Hawaii for a week. I swam a tiny bit but mostly just while snorkeling. I came back and had kids things to do and then chemotherapy (still with a 46 hour infusion every other week). I started swimming again last Thursday and swam 3 long course practices (3K, 3K and 3.6K) on Thursday, Friday and Saturday am. I entered the meet at Dad's Club at the last minute. It was a fun, short meet. I swam the following:

100 back-- 1:21. This is only the second time I have swam this in Masters and surprisingly this was faster than the first time. In contrast, the other three events were the slowest times I have swum in masters but not by a lot.
100 fly- 1:23
100 breast 1:32
400 IM 6:12

My fly was definitely a struggle (The 100 time was about 7 seconds slower but this was the first time I have swum this since starting chemo two years ago). I could tell I hadn't really swum much LC when swimming it. My 400 IM was a second slower than last year but the fly by itself was three seconds slower. So my half full glass tells me the last 300 was 2 seconds faster. This week might be tough for swimming with my kids activities (There are summer league or club swim meets 6 of the next seven days) but I'll try to get there at least three times. I/m thinking about zones in 3 weeks with maybe a reprise of the Nationals schedule (200 fly/back/breast/IM) plus relays if we have the people.

I enjoyed a nice evening yesterday with Preston at a campfire hosted by one of the new professors at the college. Lots of folks young and old enjoyed games, snacks, conversation, and of course S'mores! I didn't try this fishing pole device, but the little ones had a great time with it.

After the pool I joined my wife and her friend picking strawberrys at the farm where we have a CSA for the summer. Great day.

Tonight we went to annual community Relay For Life event and walked a couple of miles together in honor of those battling cancer. We have been going since my mom passed away 15 years ago, sometimes on a team but always taking strides.